Group Takes On Nana Oye

Nana Oye LithurAction Patriots For Justice (APJ), a pressure group based in Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region, has expressed disgust at the huge sum of money used by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, to register 500 old and needy men and women with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

According to the group, the minister came to the town on November 6, 2015 with seven Land Cruisers and a long motorcade, live band and spinners to register the old men and women at a cost of GH¢4.00 each.

The group’s secretary, John Donyina at a press conference, said that the total cost of registering the old men and women was GH¢2,000.

But he said it cost a total of GH¢4,900 (GH¢700.00 each) to fuel the seven Land Cruisers from Accra to Techiman, while the live band which was brought from Accra, did cost the tax payer GH¢6,000 and the spinners who were also bused from Accra, collected GH¢1,200.

Mr. Donyina said if the minister had given the money to the Techiman office of the NHIS, more than 5,000 old men and women could have been registered.

He said the group was bringing this to the notice of the media because information members gathered indicated that that reckless spending was going to be replicated nationwide ‘and one can just imagine the amount of money that will go waste.’

Mr. Donyina was surprised that a government which prides itself to be social democrat is spending the people’s money so recklessly while the people suffer under harsh economic conditions created by the same government. He also wanted to know what had become of the one-time premium for the NHIS promised by the NDC in the run-up to the 2012 general elections.